Piero della Francesca's First Painting Recovered

Madonna and Child Recovered by Curators of Exhibition

It disappeared fifty years ago from the Italian collections. It has been found by the curators of the exhibition in Arezzo during the selection and retrieval work of the paintings for display.

Piero della Francesca's first painting, a beautiful 'Madonna and child', lost fifty years ago, has been found in a private collection at Santiago in Chile. The painting will be displayed for the first time at the exhibition on Piero della Francesca to open on 31 March at Arezzo. The painting was found during the search of organizers for works for the exhibition.

The 'Madonna and child' was attributed to Piero della Francesca by both Longhi (1946) and Salmi (1947), and was held in the collection Contini Bonacossi of Florence from 1929 until after the war, when it left Italy. The finding has been confirmed by the curators of the exhibition, Carlo Bertelli, Giangiacomo Martines, and Antonio Paolucci. Paolucci has pointed out the beautiful perspective anticipating the recurrent themes of the works by the Tuscan master, who found inspiration for his art from the environment and territory where he lived.